


Heaven out of Hell

by Arwen88



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Crossdressing, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Period-Typical Crossdressing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 16:01:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20530697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arwen88/pseuds/Arwen88
Summary: Bill goes snooping around in the backstage of that evening's USO show and he meets a beautiful redhead.He couldn't help a grin when she took a step forward, but then blinked hard at the "Edward ‘Babe’ Heffron.""Oh man." Bull snorted, terribly amused, and Bill wasn't even in his right mind to elbow him in the side, shocked at understanding that all that time the girl he had dreamed of was a boy.





	Heaven out of Hell

**Author's Note:**

> A million thanks to ThrillingDetectiveTales for betareading this!  
Title is from "Heaven out of hell" by Elisa.
> 
> The prompt comes from the new prompt meme Loose Lips Sink Ships! (Look it up, it's here: https://looselipssinkships.altervista.org)

Bill had seen his fair share of USO shows since he had enlisted, some put on a stage by the guys in his platoon even, and now that they were back in England he couldn't help but be impatient to see another one.

He wanted to forget Carentan, to forget how many of their men had not come back. Replacements had arrived and they had started training together right away. It was the worst, replacements always kept dying fast, too fast to remember their names, to even get to know them appropriately. He didn't want to snap at them like others did, but he also knew he couldn't bring himself to get close to them only to have the heartbreak of losing them two days in the field.

Bill went snooping around, wondering if there was any chance to run into someone famous, curious by nature, but he stopped dead merely a couple steps away from the most beautiful pair of legs he had ever seen.

The redhead was sitting on a step, bent forward as she examined her stockings, a little sound of displeasure at seeing the tear right above her calf.

Bill cleared his throat, suddenly more flustered than he had been in a long time.

He was about to speak when a voice backstage hollered "Five minutes!" and the woman in front of him cursed under her breath.

"Shit! They're gonna kill me." She raised her head, a worried look on her face, and Bill was struck by how beautiful she was, biting her lip and trying to fix her skirt.

"Need a hand, babe?" Bill cleared his throat.

"Yes, please," she breathed, not even looking him in the face, reaching out with one hand. Bill took it instinctively and she tugged hard at it to get on her feet.

Bill barely had the time to marvel about her strong grip before she was running up the steps and backstage and he could do nothing more than stay where he was, staring at her ass.

***

Bill lit up a cigarette as soon as he sat down in a vacant seat beside Bull, the man barely moving away his legs to let Bill pass.

"You alright?"

Bill nodded with a hum, thinking about the redhead he had just met and how he might have managed to meet her again after the show. It would for sure have made for the best evening he’d had in a long time.

He inhaled deeply when the broad came on stage, smiling at the men and dancing with another performer. Bill stared at her, his gaze traveling up and down her figure, and wondered how it would have been to be the one dancing with her, the one she would smile at. He tried to ignore how hot and flustered he felt, how tight his pants suddenly were as he envisioned himself grabbing her hips and making her turn towards him, pressing the two of them together to let her feel how hard he could get.

He took a long drag from his cigarette when the performer on stage kissed her, or at least pretended, none of them could really see since the man had dipped her, and he felt a little twinge in his stomach.

He wanted nothing more than to talk to the girl and kiss her until she wanted only to spend more time with him, to kiss him more and be in his arms all night long.

Bull leaned closer to him, bumping their shoulders together. "Man, you look like you want to eat her up," he whispered.

Bill didn't even take his eyes off her, not mentioning he very much wanted to eat her up. He merely hummed, nodding towards the stage. "She's from south Philly."

"You know her?" Bull asked throwing him a quick glance.

"Not yet." He smirked. "But I'd recognize that accent anywhere."

"Yeah, bet that's why you look like you're starving." His friend chuckled, and Bill just ignored him.

He put the cigarette between his lips to clap his hands with the others, sitting a bit more straight when every performer got their name called at the end of the show.

He couldn't help a grin when she took a step forward, but then blinked hard at the "Edward ‘Babe’ Heffron."

"Oh man." Bull snorted, terribly amused, and Bill wasn't even in his right mind to elbow him in the side, shocked at understanding that all that time the girl he had dreamed of was a boy.

***

It could have been the end of it, if only Bill could stop thinking of the boy he had met backstage at the theatre. He went back to his cot that night wondering what company "Babe" was in.

He got his answer no more than two days later while supervising the replacements’ training. Suddenly a face in the line up rang a bell and Bill studied the redhead staring straight ahead. It was decidedly different from the face of the woman in the theatre, but it was clearly the same person, make up or not.

Babe Heffron was a beautiful, young, and clean-faced boy. No wonder those in charge of the show had given him the part of the girl. And, since everybody called him Babe, it wasn't really a surprise that the boy had not even looked Bill in the face when he had called him by the pet name.

Suddenly the thought of kissing the girl silly morphed in the very much more real fantasy of getting closer to the boy and befriending him. He could actually get to talk to him, kiss him if he was lucky enough. Bring him to his cot if he was truly really lucky.

It was entirely unfair how hot the boy was, but Bill hoped he could get lucky for once.

***

It wasn’t just by chance that Bill found himself sitting right behind Heffron at mess, and he was extremely pleased with himself when the boy accepted his offer to sit with him and spent a good while talking with him about South Philly. Babe looked genuinely happy to talk about their shared hometown, and Bill didn’t even try to tone down his grin at finding so many things in common with the boy. So far from home, it seemed almost a blessing having found someone that knew all the places he had grown up in, all the streets he had walked, many of the people that had crowded his life before he had enlisted.

Becoming Babe’s friend was the easiest thing Bill had ever done, the two of them somehow just clicking together and not even having to think about it before they were sitting together and chatting for hours when they had free time. It was like having someone from home with him and Bill didn’t even want to think how devastating it would have been to him to lose his new friend in the war.

He would wave Babe over at the mess, the boy smiling openly at him as he sat down at his table to resume their chat from when they had left it or eating quietly as Bill went back to talking to his friends.

Bill feigned not noticing the smirk on Bull’s face, not deigning to even glance at him, though he knew he was being maybe too obvious in his interest for the boy. He admittedly still felt his heart give a strange tug everytime Babe beamed at him, open and trusting, or laughed at his jokes, but the more he flirted with him the more clear it became that all his attempts flew right over Babe’s head.

It would have been frustrating if only Bill didn’t find it terribly endearing, actually happy even just to be the boy’s friend and be the one to take the replacement under his wing.

Babe was too young, still too innocent, and Bill feared the moment he would face the real war and see how sick the world was.

***

"I've never kissed a girl." Babe sighed, staring off in the distance, and Bill almost spilled his beer.

They were sitting outside of a pub, beer in hand, simply chilling on one of the rare leaves they had been granted recently as they waited to jump into France. Suddenly Bill found himself truly looking at his friend, at the way he was barely holding his glass, the way his face was flushed.

Still, he wasn't sure if that was because of the alcohol or because he had just confessed something that none of them would ever be caught dead saying.

"I guess that's our cue to leave." Bill snorted softly, smiling as he left money on the table and got to his feet, waiting for Babe to do the same.

They walked slowly towards where their regiment was stationed, hands in their pockets against the chill of the countryside.

"You really never kissed a girl?" Bill asked after a couple minutes, too curious to leave it alone now that the idea was under his skin. Either Babe had never kissed girls or he meant that he had kissed boys, he decided, glancing at his friend.

Babe cleared his throat, clearly a bit uneasy, but he looked at Bill and Bill saw the exact moment the boy decided he could trust Bill to keep it to himself.

"Yeah. I just- I guess I never found the right one maybe?" He shrugged. "There was this girl living on my street, all my friends said I should date her, but she- I don't know, I never understood what I should have found in her. But we went out for a while. Just-" He shrugged again, looking away. "It felt kinda for the best when I got drafted."

Bill kept silent, his heart pounding in his chest, and after a moment he forced himself to shrug one shoulder nonchalantly. “What about the guy you kissed on stage, though?”

“Oh, that was on the cheek.” Babe rolled his eyes, snorting softly.

Bill would have been lying if he said that didn’t give him a pang of satisfaction, and he barely contained a grin. “I myself would have gone for your mouth, you were the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen,” he admitted sincerely and smiled at seeing the boy surprised but clearly pleased, a light flush on his cheeks. "It's not that different from kissing a boy I figure, if you're still down to do it, ‘cause with the war I can't see many girls on our radar." He chuckled, forcing a levity that masked his dread at being exposed for his words.

Babe laughed, seemingly more relaxed now that he wasn't talking about himself, and elbowed Bill's arm as they walked side by side. "You saying that from personal experience?" he joked, only to realize a moment after and blanch at his own words. "I didn’t mean, you know-" He murmured, looking up and down the deserted street they were in.

Bill simply laughed, and after the briefest moment took the boy by surprise by gently pushing him towards the side of a house where the shadows would keep them away from prying eyes.

Bill took advantage of the moment and clashed their mouths together, his hands keeping a hold of Babe's jacket, and for a moment he held his breath as Babe gasped softly, surprised. He didn't dare move, didn't dare face Babe pushing him away, but after a couple seconds the boy relaxed against him.

Babe tentatively pressed his lips against Bill's, and Bill let go of his jacket to bring his hands over the boy's hips instead, holding him as he tried parting his lips. He only had to put the slightest pressure against the seam of Babe's lips for the boy to open up for him.

The kiss was slow, almost uncertain, and it did feel like a first kiss, shy on Babe's part but curious, and Bill kissed him gently, not wanting to scare him off.

They stayed close when they broke apart, looking at each other until Babe dropped his gaze somewhere over Bill's chest, a little frown pulling at his brows.

"Are we still friends?" he asked with a touch of uncertainty, a frown pulling down his lips.

"Of course we're still friends. We'll always be friends!" Bill blurted out with passion before he could even consider any other answer.

It seemed to be the right answer because after a moment Babe raised his gaze once more to his face, a little smile tugging at his lips, and when their gazes met the boy gave the slightest nod, some tension leaving his shoulders.

Bill hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was too much, but then tried leaning towards his friend, just studying his reaction for a couple seconds before trying to inch even closer. He stopped when he could feel Babe's breath on his lips.

Babe closed his eyes for a moment, finally seeming to remember he had hands and lifting them between them to brush the tips of his fingers over the lapels of Bill's jacket. He didn't try to push him away nor to tug him closer, he simply brushed the fabric, as if not really sure what he should have done.

Bill tried closing the distance between them, brushing their lips together once more, and felt the soft sigh of the other on his skin a moment before the boy tilted his head enough for their mouths to slot together.

Bill kissed him again then, deepening it right away as Babe gripped tight at his jacket even though he started returning the kiss.

It wasn't long before Bill stepped closer and gently pushed the boy's back against the brick wall, pressing their bodies flush from thighs to chest. Babe made the softest sound in the back of his throat, a choked moan, and Bill felt his body alight with desire.

Babe moved his hands over his shoulders, clutching at him, and when he gave the tiniest tug to press Bill against himself, Bill didn't hesitate to let go of any restraint.

They kissed with abandon even as they tried to keep silent. Bill poured into it every desire he had bottled up over those last few months, every dream of being the one able to hold the beautiful boy in his arms, to be the only one Babe would have wanted to kiss.

"You're beautiful, so beautiful, I swear..." Bill murmured when they broke apart to take a breath, an affectionate smile spreading over his lips at the flush he could see appear on Babe's face at his words. Instead of saying anything else he pressed a kiss over one heated cheekbone, nuzzling the boy's red hair when Babe ducked his head a touch. Bill could see he was pleased even though he probably had no idea how to answer to such a thing. It was a shame he thought, rubbing soothing caresses over the boy's hips and deciding to make sure Babe would always know exactly how beautiful Bill found him, how happy he made Bill just being close to him.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Heaven out of Hell](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22083511) by [Alasse_Schwarz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alasse_Schwarz/pseuds/Alasse_Schwarz)


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